{"id":4534,"date":"2012-10-18T22:08:33","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T02:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4534"},"modified":"2012-10-19T20:01:42","modified_gmt":"2012-10-20T00:01:42","slug":"jmu-richmond-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4534","title":{"rendered":"JMU @ Richmond Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tick week. \u00a0Poormond week. \u00a0Sweater vest week. \u00a0Ahh, nothing like the Dukes’ bi-annual invasion of the capital city! \u00a0For quite a few alums, there’s no bigger rivalry game than this. \u00a0Yes, we know the news that College of Charleston is expected to join the CAA<\/a> as another weakassed, conference-destroying, non-football member is supposed to be announced tomorrow, but we’ll hold off on the full JMUSB treatment of the issue until things are official. \u00a0Not that Andy Katz hasn’t been a solitary pro-CAA voice in the national media for a couple of years now, but let’s wait till the Board of Trustees vote tomorrow before wasting our breath. \u00a0And it’s also pretty cool that former JMU soccer player Joel Senior was capped for Jamaica<\/a> in the game that clinched that nation’s advancement in World Cup Qualifying. \u00a0But it’s football season, and your JMU Dukes are now ranked #2 in the nation!<\/p>\n

So back to the gridiron. \u00a0Since UR has announced they’re moving down to DIII and Spider Bandwagon is solely covering hoops these days (we kid, we kid), we’re just running with our own preview. \u00a0First, the basics<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Or?<\/p><\/div>\n

The Richmond Ticks are 4-3 (2-2) and certainly still in the thick of things in the CAA. \u00a0They’re also potentially better than their record. \u00a0They have three cupcake wins including Georgia St., but they also upset a very good Villanova team on the road and hung tough with ODU at home and UNH on the road last week. \u00a0The other loss was to UVa to open the season. \u00a0That said, they’ve lost their top RB and their QB1 for the season in the last two games and we hold the fact they’re coached by former Liberty coach Danny Rocco against them as well. \u00a0We’d like to continue our usual policy of mocking their new, but oh-so-itty-bitty-high-school-style Robins Stadium, but don’t forget the Dukes fell 13-10 there in JMU’s only other game in 2010.<\/p>\n

What We Want to See:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 Dukes play with energy from the opening kick after sleepwalking through most of the first half last week. \u00a0The offense run north and south, especially in EVERY SINGLE 4th down and goal-to-go situation. \u00a0The offense look like they have an overall gameplan. \u00a0WR Arlandis Harvey build on last week’s breakout performance. \u00a0Continued solid play on Special Teams. \u00a0With UR trotting out a backup QB, we’d like to see the Defense play more aggressive; force the Ticks to beat you over the top instead of dinking and dunking you with short passes up and down the field. \u00a0 Lastly, it will be interesting to see how JMU gameplans for \"\"<\/a>the Ticks best player and Buchanan Watch List member Safety Cooper Taylor.<\/p>\n

TV: <\/strong>We know lots of you from the RIC (you won’t catch us using RVA) will be in attendance and we hope you make the tailgating uncomfortable for the champagne crowd, but thankfully for the rest of us, this game is on Comcast again. \u00a0This week, it’s the actual Comcast Mid-Atlantic so for most of us that’s the normal ComcastSportsNet.<\/p>\n

Prediction: <\/strong>Like last year, we expect JMU to put up their best game of the year to this point against Richmond. \u00a0After four essentially meaningless games to start the season, it’s taken the Dukes a couple weeks against two good teams to really get going. \u00a0We like them to really get their footing and light up a banged-up Ticks squad. \u00a0Dukes 27, Ticks 13.<\/p>\n

And finally, you just might see this! \u00a0Never gets old. [Two other notable items in this top 10: “Robert Griffin” makes an appearance w\/out a 3 or a III, and both Hofstra (#thanksstu) and Northeastern flash football scores on the crawl]<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MMl6LaXEqvQ<\/a><\/p>\n

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